(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Go back to Judges chapter 4. I read to you chapter 5 in the beginning because we're basically going to be going through chapter 4 in the sermon. So I want you to get both sides of the story here. But in Judges chapter 4 we have the story of Deborah. As we go through the Judges in the book of Judges, Deborah is actually the fourth judge and she's dealt with in Judges chapter 4. And I want to go through this and just explain this story and give some application. But look at verse number 1 of chapter 4. It says, The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, that reigned and Hazor, the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Herosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron. And look at this. And twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. Now twenty years is a long time. Now of course in chapter 3 we have Ehud who delivered Israel, judged Israel. And while he was alive, everything was great. He led Israel, everybody was serving God. But what happened was when he died, the people forgot the Lord and started to serve other gods, started to commit wickedness in the sight of the Lord. And therefore God sent this Canaanite king who mightily oppressed them for twenty years. And that's the condition that we find in Judges chapter 4. By the way, all throughout the Bible, over and over again, we see God's people disobey God, and always they go into captivity, they go into bondage, they get mightily oppressed. And I believe that part of the reason why in America today we're being oppressed is because of the wickedness of God's people. Whenever people are serving God, whenever there's righteousness exalting a nation, then we'll have freedom, we'll have liberty, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But when there's wickedness, even in God's house and among God's people, oppression needs must follow. There's always going to be a lack of freedom when we have a lack of righteousness and godliness in a nation. And today, the answer to our problems is not as much political as spiritual. You know, if God's people would get their houses and their lives in order and cleaned up, if God's people would go out and preach the gospel to every creature, then we would not be in the condition that we're in today in America. But it's because of our sins and our wickedness among God's people that we are mightily oppressed today. We're oppressed financially, we're oppressed by law enforcement, by the TSA, you know, all the things you hear in the news. Because of our wickedness as a nation, it has to happen. And we need to get right with God as the answer to this, not necessarily a political answer. Although that would be nice too. But in verse number 4, it says, Endeavorah, a prophetess. Now I want you to take note of that word, we're going to talk about that a little more. Endeavorah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidus, she judged Israel at that time. So during this 20 years that they're mightily oppressed, Ehud's gone, and so now Devorah is the one who's judging them. She's the one who is the leader. It says, And she dwelt under the palm tree of Devorah between Rhema and Bethel and Mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoham, out of Kedesh-Nathalach, and said unto him, Have not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go, and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulun, and I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine hands. So God here, through Devorah the prophetess, is promising Barak that he will win this battle. He says, Look, you see, she told him, Look, go to Naphtali, go to Zebulun, these two tribes, you're going to get ten thousand men, ten thousand warriors, you're going to go down and face this huge multitude that was a lot more than ten thousand. God doesn't give us the exact number, but they had nine hundred chariots and a huge host of foot soldiers. He said, You will win this battle. You will defeat this enemy. Sounds great, but look what Barak's response is. It says in verse 8, And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go, but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. Now this was the wrong answer, and look at the next verse. And she said, I will surely go with thee, notwithstanding. So she said, I'm going to go with you, but because of your lack of faith here, because you really have to have ten thousand and one people going with you instead of just ten thousand, she said, Because of your lack of faith, I'll surely go with thee notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman, and Deborah arose and went with Barak to heed it. So because of his lack of faith to just go alone with ten thousand men to do what he needed to do, he's going to lose the glory here. It's not going to be for his honor. Now look, people don't name their children Barak unless they're Barak Obama, and that's not somebody that we want to be patterned after. But because of the fact that he's not really that popular of a character in the Bible, he's a great warrior. He's going to win the battle. He was a mighty man of power, but just because of this one weakness here where he deferred to Deborah, he loses that glory, and therefore he doesn't get the glory for the battle. Now let's talk about the fact that Deborah was a prophetess, and let's talk about the fact that she was the only female judge. Now there's pretty much, depending on how you figure, there's pretty much twelve judges in the book of Judges, and all of them are men except Deborah. Why is that? Well, while we're talking about it, turn to 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2. Now one thing about the judges is that not only were they a political leader as it were, they were pretty much the governor, they were pretty much the ruler. After Moses died, remember Joshua picked up the reins there and took over leadership? And then after Joshua died, we get into the period of the judges, and we have the first judge, Othmiel the son of Pines. Well not only was he just a ruler, as in he was the one judging the people, and what it means to judge them is that when there was any dispute between people, or when there was any legal question, they would go to the judge and they would solve that problem. It's just like we have judges today. It's pretty much the same thing. We have three branches in our government. We have the judicial branch, we have the executive branch, we have the legislative branch. Well in the time of the judges, they were under God's government that he had given them. The Bible tells us that the law of the Lord is perfect, so we know it was a perfect system, but unfortunately the people within that system were not perfect. The system was perfect. The system did not have an executive branch, because the executive was the people. Whenever there was something that needed to be done, and there was some criminal that needed hands laid on them, the people would just go and lay hands on them, and I've talked about that in another sermon. So there was no executive branch. It was just the people executed the laws. There was no legislative branch, because they didn't need to keep making new laws, because these were their laws. Isn't that great? They just had the first five books of Moses. That was the law. Done. Let's just cancel the next several hundred sections of Congress. And so here's the law. They didn't need the executive, because the people were the executive. They had a one branch government, and it was the judicial branch. They would interpret the law, and they would basically solve disputes and so forth, using God's word and the wisdom that God had given them. So the people came to Deborah, the Bible tells us, and they came unto her for judgment. Do you see that in verse 5, in the latter part? It says, the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. So they went to her when there was a dispute, when there was a crime that had been committed, and they needed to answer questions about the law. She was there to pass judgment. Just as we have judges today, they're not executives, they're not legislators, they're judges, and that's all they had, and this is a great system. It's the perfect system that God set up for them. But unfortunately, they kept doing evil on the side of the Lord throughout the book of Judges, and so they would go into slavery, into bondage, and then God would raise up usually a great warrior that would deliver the people, free them from their oppressors, and then he would become the judge, because it was evident that God's spirit was upon him in mighty power. They would choose him as their judge, and he would continue to rule until the time of his death. After he died, they were like sheep having no shepherd, and they would go back and descend in most cases. There were a few times when the judges would be succeeded by another judge, and the people stayed righteous a few times in a row. Let me give you some examples. Othniel, the first judge, Othniel the son of Penez, he was a mighty warrior. He fought against King Cusham Risathaim, won the battle, therefore became the people's judge. Ehud, the same thing. He went out, he defeated the Moabite king, Iglon, became the judge. The next Shamgar killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad, defeated the Philistines, became the judge. But Deborah here is the judge during a time when they're under God's wrath, under God's judgment. She's not a warrior. She's not a fighter. She's not going to pick up the sword in this whole story. Barak was the man that God was calling to go and defeat the Lord's enemies, and to set them free from this oppression that they had under King Jabin of Canaan. But you can see he wasn't doing it. God had told him to do it. He wasn't doing it. Deborah has to try to light a fire under her. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, is God for women being leaders of nations? Because here we see, you know, Deborah was the judge here. She was the leader of the nation during that time that they were being judged. Well, you're in 1 Timothy 2. Let me quickly read for you Isaiah 3.12. The Bible says this, As for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy past. So according to Isaiah 3.12, having women as the leader of a nation is a judgment from God. It's not something that's desirable. It's something that's a bad situation, and they were in a very bad situation. They're being mightily oppressed by the Canaanites, and part of that judgment is that they have no man leading them. They just have a woman to go to, which is Deborah. Now let's see what God says, because whenever we want to say the Bible, we always want to make sure that we don't judge what we believe based on a story, and conflict with what the Bible says in a clear statement. You see, if we have a statement and a story, we've got to use the clear statements in the Bible to interpret the story, because guess what? The Bible tells stories about a lot of people who did a lot of things, and it doesn't necessarily mean that what they did was right. The Bible tells about people who lied, people who stole, people who murdered, people who committed adultery. We can't say, Oh well, David had multiple wives, so it must be okay. Wrong. If you look at the statements in the Bible, God tells us it's one man, one woman. He says a man shall leave his father and mother, and plead unto his wife singular, and they too shall be one flesh. Not multiple wives. He commanded in Deuteronomy that the king shall not multiply wives. So just because someone did something doesn't make it right. Just because there was a female judge doesn't mean that that's God's will, or that God desires to have women in leadership. Let's look at the clear statements in the Bible. Look at 1 Timothy 2, verse 11 says, Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor do you serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Now does that scripture right there, verse 11, Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor do you serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. Does that sound like we need a female president, or a female pastor of the church, or female deacons, or a female mayor of the city? Absolutely not. God is telling us here that it's a man's job to lead, and that women should not be suffered to usurp authority. They should not be allowed to usurp authority over the man. Look, if you would, at 1 Corinthians chapter number 11. 1 Corinthians chapter number 11. Now this is not a downgrading of women at all. It's just that men and women have different roles, different functions. It's not that men are better than women, or women are better than men. And you know, our society has tried to get us to think that way. This us against them mentality, where women have this anti-men attitude, and men have this anti-women attitude. That isn't right. It's not of God. The Bible says, In Christ there's neither male and female. But anyway, he said, In Christ there's neither male nor female. Right? Neither bond nor free. But in the world that we live in, there are bond and free. There are male and female. And male and female today have been created for different roles. Men have different roles in society than women. It's not that they're better. It's just that they're different. That's all. And so that's all that the Bible is telling us here. That women are not designed to be in authority. They're designed to be in submission, subjection. And it's not anything bad about that. It's just the way life is. And if everybody's in their proper roles, they're going to be the happiest. And they're going to be able to serve God the best. But look at 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3. It says, But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. So we see there that God is obeying men to be in authority over women. Look at verse number 8. It says, For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. Look at 1 Peter, chapter 3, the last place we'll turn. 1 Peter, chapter number 3, or the end of the Bible. We're not going to every place, but I'm just trying to show you that God is telling us in no uncertain terms who is to be in authority in the church, who is to be in authority in the home, and who is to be in authority in the nation. God's three institutions. While you're turning there, I'll read for you from 1 Corinthians, chapter 14. I guess it's not in my notes. But in 1 Corinthians 14, God spells this out again in regard to the local church. He says in 1 Corinthians 14, Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. Now, God couldn't be any clearer with that, could He? But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law, and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. So God's telling us, look, women should not get up and speak in church. We're not going to have a woman come up here and speak and preach and teach us this morning or any morning. And you see, many people try to reconcile this and justify this and twist this, but you can't show me any clear scripture that will contradict this from Genesis to Revelation. You can't show me where God speaks and says, No, I want women to speak in church. I want them to stand up and teach and preach in the local church. You're not going to find it. God's word is consistent on this subject. We've seen tons of scriptures here. Here's another one, 1 Peter 3.1, it says, Likewise ye wise, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the compensation of the wise, while they behold your chaste compensation coupled with fear. Who's adorning? Let it not be that outward adorning of plating the air and wearing of gold and putting on of apparel. He's saying women shouldn't be flashy and fancy clothing and expensive tastes. That's not the way that godly women should dress. The Bible says, For after this man, an old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. I skipped into verse 4, sorry about that. It says, Even the ornament, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Look at verse 6. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Let's go back to Judges now with that in mind. So we've got to let the clear statements of the Bible explain to us, look, it's not God's will for women to be ruling and reigning. It's not God's will for women to rule in the home. It's not God's will for a woman to run the church. It's not that they're better or worse. It's just that men have been ordained by God to be a church. Look, I'm not better than you this morning, but yet I'm the pastor of the church and there are other people in here that are maybe not qualified to be the pastor of the church. It doesn't mean that I'm better than them. It just means that they're not qualified to fulfill this particular office that I fulfill. It's not a question of better or worse. It's a question of being in your proper role. And a woman who's running her house is not in her proper role. And that house will not be blessed by God while things are topsy-turvy and upside down. People need to get back to God's way of thinking about men and women. And it's biblical, and I'm preaching it to you right now. Are you back in Judges 7? Before we're going to go through the story. He said even in Genesis 3.16, all the way back at the very beginning, God told the woman, He shall rule over thee about her husband Adam. Thy desire shall be with thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And that's scriptural. But back in Judges 4, let's get back to the story here. So the people are in a horrible situation. They're mightily oppressed. Twenty long years go by. And Deborah is the only person that they've got to go to to give them judgment. They have no strong man leading them. God has called Barak, but he's not stepping up to the plate. So Deborah has to call him and bring him over to her and say, look, you need to go do this. I'm not the one to do it. You're the one that needs to go do it. You need to take 10,000 women. No, He said you need to take 10,000 men and have 10,001 men go out and prank these guys and be a warrior here and deliver. And God said, I've already given it to you. I've already given you the victory. I've already delivered it into your hand. And so he falters here and says, well, I'm only going to go if you go with me. She says, OK, but the victory here is going to go to the hand of a woman. Now, she wasn't referring to herself. Barak probably thought that she was, but that's not what was going to happen. Look if you would at verse number 10. It says, and Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kadesh, and he went up with 10,000 men at his feet. Now, it sounds like a big army, but if you look at the relationship to the size of the other army, it's a very small force because he doesn't have any chariots. He's got a much smaller force, but he's got God with him. And so it says, Deborah went up with him also. Verse 11, now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent onto the plain of Zainim, which is by Kadesh. Now, this verse just seems kind of out of place, just kind of thrown in, but it's going to be significant a little bit later. This man, Heber the Kenite, was of the children of Moses' father-in-law. Now, if you remember, Moses' father-in-law came and dwelt with the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, and so the Kenites there are pretty much allies of the children of Israel, but this man, Heber, had severed himself from the Kenites. He's just kind of doing his own thing. He's in the wilderness, just got his own thing going, and the Bible tells us that he was confederate with Jabin, king of Canaan, the bad guy, and Sisera, the captain himself. It says in verse 12, And they showed Sisera... Remember, Sisera is the enemy general. Jabin, the king of Canaan, is the bad king. Sisera is his general. It says, They showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinom was gone up to Mount Tabor, and Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even 900 chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Herosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Qisham. So basically, Barak begins to assemble this army, and he's got 10,000 guys there. Well, obviously, people are going to notice this, and so they go and run and tell the Canaanites and say, hey, look, something's going on here. They've assembled an army of 10,000 men, and so he says, well, let's get everything. Let's get all 900 chariots. Let's get all our men, and let's go face off with Barak. So it says in verse 14, And Deborah said unto Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into thine hand, is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and 10,000 men after him, and the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before Barak, so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet. So here these two armies clash. Barak is leading his 10,000 men totally outnumbered. These chariots are coming toward them, but because God stepped in here and God gave them the victory, these 10,000 men led by Barak were able to rout the enemy. They defeated them. They discomfited them, which means basically they made them break ranks, and they had to go fleeing in the other direction because they lost their battle plan, and so Barak and his men are chasing after them, defeating them. They're in retreat mode. Well, Sisera jumps off his chariot. He can kind of figure out how things are going to go. So he jumps off the chariot, leaves his army, just leaves them to the wolves without a leader because they're already discomfited and going a million directions anyway. He jumps off the chariot and goes just running away on foot, just fleeing off into the wilderness. It says in verse 16, But Barak pursued after the chariots and after the hosts on the ferocious of the Gentiles, and all the hosts of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left, albeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of jail. So they killed every single one of them. I mean, they just slaughtered this enemy army. As they were retreating, they chased them all the way back to Barosheth of the Gentiles, which is where they came from. They chased them many, many miles, defeated them all, killed every last one of them, except for Sisera had the presence of mind to realize that the ship was going down. He didn't want to go with it, so he had run off on his feet. So he flees under that guy, Heber. Remember that guy who separated from the Kenites? He was kind of living on his own. Well, he's not home, but his wife, Jeil, is home. And so it says in verse 17, Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jeil, the wife of Heber, the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite. So this was a guy that should have been an ally to Sisera. And so he figures he's going to find refuge there. He runs on foot to that house, and in verse 18 it says, And Jeil went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn into me, fear not. And when he had turned in unto her unto the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? That thou shalt say, No. Then Jeil, so basically she gives him milk, she lays him down, she covers him with a mantle, she tucks him in real nice into bed, you know, and leaves him there all cozy. And he says, Oh, by the way, you know, if anybody asks I'm here, just tell them that I'm not here. Okay. Well it says in verse number 20, or verse 21, it says, Then Jeil, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent. So she took one of the tent spikes that was holding the tent down, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly, unto him. So she basically tiptoes over to him in his sleep, very softly, very quietly. And it says, And smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary, so he died. Now these are your temples right here. Basically this soft portion, right here on the side of your head, where your skull is not really protecting you. Now this took a lot of guts though, because this was a mighty warrior. This man, Cicero, was a great fighter, he was a great warrior. He's asleep, but you don't know if he's going to wake up. But she knew that this guy was bad, and this guy needed to die. So she snuck in there, and put the tent spike through the side of his temples, and killed him. It says in verse 22, And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jeil came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. So God subdued on that day, Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel, and the hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. So we see that Deborah's prophecy comes true. Barak wanted to have the glory of defeating the enemy Sisera. He wasn't the one who killed her, it was actually Jeil that actually did the deed of actually killing Sisera. And so, what about the comments that God makes on this story? Look at Judges 5. In Judges 5 we get some of God's commentary on what happened and explaining the story. First of all, we know that it was God who stepped in here and allowed Barak to win the battle. It wasn't through his might or his power or his strength of those 10,000 people. It was because of God. Look at verse number 20. It says in verse 20 of chapter 5, They fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The Bible even says in verse 4, Lord, when thou winnest out of Sire, when thou marchest out of the field of Eden, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water, the mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. So God was the one who stepped in here miraculously and gave them the victory. God was the one that before they even harnessed up, before they even got out their weapons, he said, I've delivered it into your hand. You're going to win. This is just like when David ran to face Goliath. And he said, you come to me with a sword and a spear. He said, I come to you in the name of the Lord God of Israel. He said, the battle is the Lord. He said, I will win this fight because I'm on the right side. But you see what the 10,000 men did, they deserve some praise and glory too in Barak himself. People have to call him Barak, you know. But Barak himself, I pronounce it that way for years and years. I'm not going to change the way I pronounce it just because of the president's name. So Barak gets some of the glory too because at least he went. He had the courage to go. And the 10,000 men with him, they had the courage to go fight. It wasn't their strength. It wasn't their might. They didn't do it in the flesh. But they were there. They willingly offered themselves, the Bible says in Judges chapter 5. And that's what God asks us to do. Not to necessarily have all the strength or the might or the power to win the battle ourselves. He just says, offer yourself. Just be there. Just go. Just fight. God didn't have a very good attitude toward those who would not go. 10,000 is not really a big enough army. They could have had a much bigger army. But look, he begins to go through and explain in chapter 5. You don't have to read them, but in verses number 15 and 16, we already read them. He pretty much explains how, you know, everybody's kind of wondering, where's Reuben? You know, where's he at? He was the firstborn son. Where is the tribe of Reuben in this battle? Look at verse 23. Cursi miras, said the angel of the Lord. Cursi bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. He said, look, there's a curse associated with those who would not go, who would not offer themselves, who would not get in on this battle. He goes through and explains, you know, why did Dan remain in the ships? He's listing off the tribe. You know, where was this tribe? Where were they at? Where were these people? He said, no, it was Zepulon and Naphtali. Now, look, if we ask people the name, the tribes of Israel that they know, do you think Zepulon and Naphtali would be pretty high on the list? No. They probably list like Levi, Judah, Reuben, you know, the more well-known tribes. They might know Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. These are probably two of the least famous and least known tribes, but you know what, they were the ones who had the guts and willingly offered themselves and showed up for the battle. And basically, Judges 5 ends up kind of laying into these other tribes that didn't show up and ripping on them and saying that they were weak, saying that they did not have the faith to be there. And look, this is what God asks us to do. He doesn't ask us to be talented or to maybe have all the skill and the wisdom and the strength and the might to do it ourselves. He just asks us to offer ourselves. He said in Romans 12, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable servant. See, when you serve God, when you offer yourself to God, you're not doing some bonus, some extra thing. It's your reasonable service. It's your duty. And Jesus said, He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. You see, in the great spiritual prank that we're in today, as we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the spiritual wickedness in high places and rulers of the darkness of this world, hey, we cannot be neutral. Either we're fighting on the side of what's right, either we're out gathering with Jesus Christ, either we're out winning souls to Christ and serving God, or we are a liability to the cause of Christ. There's no neutrality. There's no, well, I'm just going to sit back, and I'm not going to do anything really bad. Well, you know what? If you're not doing anything really good, though, where are you in this fight? You know, evil prevails when good men do nothing. And ten tribes here are sitting around doing nothing. There's no man. I mean, God is seeking for a man that would make up the hedge and stand in the gap, and he found none. He has to beg Barak to even stand up and lead. He has to finally send a woman to take him aside and say, Look, God is trying to get you to do this. You should be good. You should be not me. I'm a woman. You should be in charge. And then they finally had to scrounge up 10,000 men from the two of the least popular tribes and get these guys they would just offer themselves. Look at 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, and we'll see a New Testament scripture that kind of reinforces this a little bit. 1 Corinthians 1. Look at verse number 26. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. Watch this. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. He says, But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God says that he is more likely to use those who are weak. He's more likely to use those who do not have maybe all the intellect and worldly wisdom. He'll use those often who do not have everything going for them. Maybe they're not the best looking or the most talented or the best speaking ability. He said with staggering lips or with an unknown tongue, while I speak unto this people, God is just looking for those who will willingly offer themselves whatever the talents, whatever the abilities, whatever the weaknesses that they have. He says that he'll get more glory the weaker they are. The weaker they are, the smaller the number in Barak's army, it's just more glory to God. You look back and say, Well, God must have stepped in. I mean, when you see Gideon, a few chapters later, take 300 men and fight against an innumerable multitude like the sand of the sea. God gets the glory. No way on earth 300 men could defeat a multitudinous army like that unless God has stepped in and committed and performed a miracle there. God wants to use all of us. He's just looking for those that will willingly offer, not to be forced, not to be constrained, but he's looking for those that will willingly offer themselves and say, Where am I? Send me. If you go back a little bit, he says in verse number, because we start in verse 26, back to verse number 24, it says, But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. I mean, God's power at its weakest is greater than man's power at its mightiest. And he says, Look, this is the wisdom of God right here, that we've got the Word of God, we have the mind of Christ, we have the wisdom of God, we have the Spirit of God living inside of us if we're saved. The same Spirit that came upon these great judges, the same Spirit that came upon Samson and Gideon and Jephthah and all these mighty warriors in the book of Judges that deliver their people, we have the same Spirit of faith, the Bible tells us. And so we just need to willingly offer ourselves. But what stops those in the Bible from offering themselves? Many times the same thing that will stop us from offering ourselves, fear. Fear. You know, fear is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible, always negative, unless we're fearing God. That's the only positive mention. I mean, you can go through and look at all the hundreds of mentions of fear, and it's fear not, fear not, be not afraid, be not afraid. Yea, though I long for the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Weird to not fear anyone. But he says, Fear God, fear the Lord. Fear not, then, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Over and over he tells us, Fear the Lord, fear God, but every other fear is negative. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, and fear can be crippling today, just as it was thousands of years ago. Fear that makes people not want to willingly offer themselves. Fear to go soul-willing. It's not your talent, or your ability, or your skills, or your Bible knowledge that's going to win the victory out of soul-willing. It's just, have you willingly offered yourself? If you're going forth and weeping, buried, pressed to see, hey, you'll doubtless come again with rejoicing. You just got to have the word of God, and the spirit of God, and go out, and preach the gospel, stammer, stutter, drop your Bible, but you know what? God can use you if you'll just offer yourself, and willingly offer yourself. Other men need to rise up, and preach, and start churches, and plant churches across America. But in many cases, fear is what's stopping them from doing that. You know how I had the boldness to start this church five years ago? From scratch, with no help, no support, nothing? I had the boldness because I knew that the battle was the last. I had the promise of God when He said upon this rock, I will build my church in the gates of Ellis and Opperman against, and when I realized that I didn't have to build it, all I had to do was just show up, willingly offer myself, meet the qualifications, bring souls to Christ, preach the gospel to every creature, and that God would give the victory, and that God would give the increase. That's what gave me the boldness. It wasn't some faith in my ability. It wasn't a faith in my speaking ability, which did not exist. It wasn't my faith in all the knowledge that I had. No, it was the faith that God would give the victory to someone who would yield themselves to Him. And so many people today are not fulfilling their roles. Just because something's God's will doesn't mean it's going to happen. We see the children of Israel not in God's will. Totally enslaved, totally oppressed, a woman for a leader because there's no man leading. She's begging a man to take over. He won't do it. That's a sad state of affairs, but today we're in the same state of affairs. When Christians today think that a woman is going to be our salvation somehow politically. You know what I'm talking about? Man up. Seriously. We think that women need to lead, or they go to some college ceremony to listen to some woman preacher. We need a man behind the pulpit to stand up and breathe some fire against the sin and wickedness of our day, and to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But where are the men today that will rise up to be a man and take over, and be the leader, and offer themselves willingly to God? We see in the book of Judges, even though it was thousands of years ago, and when you read the book of Judges, almost more than any other book in the Bible, it kind of has an uncivilized feel to it, doesn't it, when you read the whole book? It's just not a very advanced society they're living in. It's just a little bit uncivilized. You know, everybody's kind of doing what's right in their own eyes. You see these people just kind of without a leader. You know, that's sad. It wasn't a problem with God's system. God's system was great. Because eventually when they threw off the system of the judges, God reduced them and said, You're wrong. You should have stuck with my system. But they didn't have the faith to do it. But part of the reason why they rejected that system is because they looked at the final judge, Samuel, and they said, Look, your sons do not walk in your ways, and we don't want this to keep happening when we've had happened with the cycle of the book of Judges, and so we just need a king right now because your sons are not going to judge us right. Of course the same thing happened once they had kings. You know, the same thing would happen when they keep cycling through. They'd have a good king, a bad king. See, everything rises and falls on leadership. You know, we need leaders today. We need man to be strong and take the leadership. But let's hit a few more highlights here from Judges chapter 5. I love Judges 5 because in Judges 4 it just kind of tells us the story flat out. I like Judges 5 because it's kind of the commentary on the story. God kind of explains to us some of the points of the story in Judges 4. You can actually get some details of the story that are not in chapter 4. For example, look at verse 24 of Judges 5. It says, Blessed above women shall jail the wife of Heber the Kenite be. Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. Now let me ask you this. Did God approve of what jail did? What's it say? Did he approve it? Absolutely. I mean, he's saying, hey, praise God, you know, that she did what Barak failed to do. He was the one who should have done it. And I believe firmly, based on what the Bible tells us clearly in Judges 4, that if Barak, when Deborah called him, would have just said, okay, let's go. I'll do it. The battle is the Lord's. He would have been the one that killed Sisera because this was a judgment on him for lacking faith there where the battle would go to the woman there, jail that would defeat the enemy. And so he lost out on that victory. Now this may not be that important to us. We may look at this and say, well, who cares? You know, who put the nail through his head? You know, big deal. But, you know, this meant a lot to them back then. Back in those days, you know, we have a different ethic today. We have a different way of looking at the world. But back then, it was, you know, honor meant something. You know, it ought to mean something today. But, you know, honor and valor, they took pride in those things and they actually meant something. Like, for example, Abimelech later in the book of Judges has a woman throw a millstone out of a window and land on his head and he asks one of his fellow soldiers, you know, thrust me through because I don't want people to say that a woman killed me. You know, he felt too, you know, noble to have that kind of a deck. And so this is a pretty shameful way to go here, you know, to be laying in your sleep. You know, he probably, even Sisera probably would have rather died in battle, you know, in a blaze of glory. But yet he dies sleeping in bed, you know, with a milk mustache. You know what I mean? He dies laying in bed with a milk mustache and a spike through his head. You know, but look at this. So God is saying that, you know, jail... And, you know, obviously God doesn't condone of just murder or assassination, but here's a situation where they're at war, there's a battle going on. I mean, this is a battle. This isn't just... She didn't just go to his house and just, you know, put a tent spike through his head. I mean, this is the middle of the battle. He ran from the battle and she just, you know, continued the battle right there. But it says, Blessed above women shall jail the wife of Heber the Kenite be. Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He asked water and she gave him milk. She brought forth butter and a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer. And here's where you get a little more detail, because it said that she put the nail through his head, but now it talks about her using the hammer. It says, you know, with the hammer she smote Sisera and watch what she did after she put the nail through his head and fastened it to the ground. We get a little more detail here. It says she smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. So first she fastened it to the ground with the nail. Then she actually removed his head, probably just to make sure that the job was finished, you know, because this guy was a mighty warrior. She doesn't want him to get a second wind here. And so it says at her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down. At her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell. I'm not sure if he fell down. I think he fell down. I think he died. It's pretty clear there. God repeats things sometimes in the Bible for emphasis and really emphasizes the point there. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window and cried through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned to answer to herself. Have they not sped? Have they not divided the prey? Every man a damsel or two? Two? That isn't right. It says to Sisera, a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors of needlework, a prey of divers colors of needlework on both sides. Meet for the necks of them that take the spoil. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. So thank God they defeated the enemy and for forty years they had rest. Now a lot of people are not really sure whether to include Barak as one of the judges. You know what I mean? It talks about Deborah definitely judging during that twenty year period when they were mightily oppressed. Now their land had rest forty years and then eventually they're going to give evil on the side of the Lord. I believe that Barak became the judge. He would be like I guess a thirteenth judge then. I believe Barak became judge because there's a verse, you know I don't think it's in my notes, but in chapter five there's a verse that kind of makes it to sound like he was the one who ended up judging after, I'll find it later, I'll explain in some time. But there's a verse in chapter five that kind of leads us to believe that pretty much Barak became the judge after that and was the judge for those forty years. We're not really sure though, but that's what I would lean toward. And so eventually he did become a judge. That would make him the thirteenth judge if he was a judge. I'm not really sure whether he was or not. But one thing I wanted to point out from verse 24 there, it says blessed above women shall jail the wife of Heber the keen ivy. Now look, there are all kinds of women in the Bible who did great things for God. And I'm going to show you some things in the Bible because we saw that term and I said we're going to come back to the prophetess. Remember how it says the devil was a prophetess? What is that? Was she like a woman creature? Was she like Joyce Meyer or something? I went through and I found every prophetess in the Bible. I went through and made a list of them. Oh wow, there's a whole other page in my notes. No wonder I was missing some stuff. Alright, this term is about to get a lot longer now. I'm almost done. But I went through and I looked up all the different prophetesses in the Bible. Now the first woman in the Bible that's called a prophetess is Miriam. And Miriam was of course Moses' sister. She was the one who after they crossed the Red Sea, she sang a song of triumph and it said, Miriam the prophetess sang these words. Kind of like Deborah sang the song in Judges 5. Then of course Deborah is the second prophetess in the Bible. We have Huldah the prophetess in 2 Kings 22.15 where she basically came to Josiah. And remember this is the one where Josiah had found the Bible. Remember they had lost God's word completely. They had been so wicked of a nation for so long no one even had a copy of God's law. And then finally they find a copy of God's law and then they get it out and read it. Josiah rinses clothes and says, Man, we've not been following any of these laws. Woe be unto us. And he said, go inquire the Lord. He sends his servants to go search out a prophet. And all they can find is a woman prophet. They find Huldah the prophetess in the college. And then it says in Nehemiah 6.14 there was an evil prophetess named Noah-diah. She was a false prophet. And then Isaiah's wife in Isaiah 8.3 is called the prophetess. And then there's Anna. Of course my new baby's name is Anna, so I've got to work this into the sermon somehow. But in Luke 2.36 there's a prophetess Anna who was a widow. She'd been married for only seven years. And then she'd been a widow for 84 years. She was an extremely old woman in the temple praying, fasting, and so forth. And she sees the baby Jesus and pronounces a lot of blessings on him and talks about some of the things that are going to happen. And then of course we have Jezebel who's called a prophetess, the evil false prophetess in Revelation 2.20 where he said, Now I'm saying I have a... Let me find my place here. Now I'm saying I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which called herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. So you can't help but notice the similarity of wording there. Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which called herself a prophetess to teach. Remember he said, I suffer not a woman to teach. Talking about the church. So you can see there, that's not a coincidence. So that was a woman who was preaching in the church and she was preaching a lot of false doctrine. But here's the key. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 is really the key here because we see a lot of women did a lot of great things in the Bible and that's what I want to focus on just quickly here as I finish the sermon. Look at Acts chapter 2. Here's some key verses because I want you to understand that because she was a prophetess that doesn't mean that she was preaching to a stadium full of people. It doesn't mean she was preaching in the congregation, preaching in the church because didn't we have clear statements in the Bible that said that that was wrong? I mean we read that in 1 Timothy 2. We read that in 1 Corinthians 14. Clear as day. And so we know that that was not taking place. Let me show you what the Bible is talking about. In Acts chapter 2 verse 16 says this, But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now what is he referring to? This is the day of Pentecost and we have 120 disciples, many of them women, many of them men. And they're all preaching the gospel to people in foreign languages that they had not previously spoken. They spoke with other tongues. It says, This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, sayeth God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and watch this, and your sons and your what? Daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my what? Handmaidens. I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. So look, God has a job for women to do spiritually. Not just being married, not just raising children, although that's, you know, the primary function. Let's face it, God tells women that they're married, married children, and got that. But he has another job for women to do spiritually. That's their physical job in this world. In a perfect world, that's what God has ordained them to do, to marry, bear children, and guide the house, as it says in verse 25, 14. But God has a job for women to do spiritually. It's not enough to just stay home and say, well, I'm just a homemaker. God also wants ladies to be a soul winner. And here, that's what we see. We don't see them getting up behind a pulpit, preaching a great servant. We don't see them in church, pastoring in church. But what we see them, and throughout the Bible, we see them here winning souls to Christ. We see them here one-on-one, talking to these people that were devout from all over the world, that needed to be saved, that needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's why I thank God that a faithful word back is served. We have a lot of ladies who go out soul winning. Thank God for that. I thank God that my wife wins people to Christ. I thank God that many of the other ladies in the church win people to Christ, because this isn't just something that's just for men. And just because God has given men the leadership role in the church, that doesn't mean that he's left the women out from being able to serve God. No, it's not their job to get up and teach and preach the Bible, but it is their job to go out and win souls and preach the gospel to every creature. And that's what he's talking about when he says here, they shall prophesy. He says, he says, look, you're witnessing right here what Joel was talking about when he talked about the women and the handmaidens prophesied. He said, look at these women. They're winning people to Christ. And he said, that's what you're witnessing. God's Spirit is upon them. Women can be filled with the Spirit just like men. Jael did a great work for God. She served God in a mighty way. Not the way that you ladies are going to be serving God. You better stick with Acts chapter 2 method. But basically, you know, she was used by... and Deborah was used by God just to be a strength and a motivation and a barrack and to light a fire unto him and get him going. And so, you know, women have an important role in the church. It's not a leadership role. It may not be the front and center role, but you know what? They have an important role. And thank God for ladies who take that role and win people to Christ and serve God. The Bible says in Proverbs 31 also, verse 1, you don't have to turn there, but he said the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Many people think that prophecy is a depiction of future events or it's always a prediction. Not so, because the Bible calls Proverbs 31 a prophecy even though it does not predict any future events. It's just preaching. It's just doctrine. It's just teaching of God's Word. And so God used that mother to prophesy unto her child, to preach God's Word unto her child. We see preaching of the Gospel to unsaved people in Acts chapter 2, going out one-on-one talking to them. And 3,000 people were saved approximately as a result of 120 people who did just that. So we see a lot of great women in the Bible. The last place we'll turn, Luke chapter 2, verse number... Actually, I'm sorry. Luke chapter number... One second. Luke chapter 11. I knew it was a Luke. Luke 11. So we get so many great lessons from the story of Barak and Deborah. We can learn a lot from Deborah. We can learn a lot from Barak. We can learn a lot from Barak's mistakes. We can see these women, Deborah, in jail who did great things for God and were used mightily by God. But, you know, today we live in a society where men are like the Baraks of this world, and they don't take the lead. They don't lead like they should. And we've become, in many cases, a matriarchal society where women are an authority. Today, I mean, we have all kinds of women leading our country in government. We have all kinds of women today who run their house, and their husband is just an accessory. You know, he's maybe... And especially somebody who's just on the couch, doesn't care, and that's the way TV depicts it, too. You know, you have a real strong leader of a woman, and, you know, Dad's just sitting on the couch with a beer, watching TV or sports or whatever. You know, that's not God's will for men. Men need to be in the league. But today, we're turning into this matriarchal society today where women are in the league. Women take the role. It's funny just looking at so many candidates in the politics lately. It's just female candidates. Especially even... And a lot of them, I agree with their politics. You know, I know I'm not talking about Sarah sneaking Palin, but I'm talking about, you know, actual libertarian candidates, you know, actual freedom-loving candidates, okay? You know, and it's just like, I'm not going to vote for a woman. You know what I mean? We need men to lead. We need men and authority. But as I notice this happening and I see it in our society on all levels, you see it in the church. The sad thing is, you go to a lot of churches and women outnumber the men. In a lot of churches. Who's ever been to a church and observed that before? So many times. And, you know, thank God for the women. The more women, the merrier. If we could bring in a thousand women here and, you know, whatever. But the point is, it's sad, though, that the men aren't there. You know, and you see from the church to the government to families just across the board, we see a weakening of men today. And we see women being in the lead, taking the leadership. And that's not the way that God created things to be. And the most predominant place you can see this is in the Catholic church, the Catholic religion. And, you know, Mexico could be a matriarchal place in many ways because of the fact that they have a religion that literally worships a woman. And if you look at the Catholic paraphernalia today, it puts Mary above Jesus. I'm telling you what. We've been sowing together Guadalupe. We've been doing a ton of sowing down there. There's a lot of Roman Catholicism down there. And as we go sowing, there's this picture that if I've seen it once in the last month, I've seen it 50 times. And we even went to this one guy's house and he was painting when he was making this idol of Mary. And they're always the same. It shows Mary standing up like this. Does everybody know what I'm talking about? She's got the hands full right here. And she's literally got Jesus underneath her feet. Who's seen that picture? And he's like a toddler. He's like a three-year-old. There's this little three-year-old baby Jesus and you've got Mary standing on top of him. And how many times do you go to a Catholic home and a Hispanic home of Mexican heritage and you'll just see over and over again Mary, Mary exalted worship. Mary is not only mentioned that many times in the Bible. She's mentioned a few times. Yes, she's a character in the Bible, but she is not the central character of the Bible. Not even close. And yet why is she the central character of their religion? Why do they put her as the supreme object of their worship? They talk more about Mary than they do about Jesus. And look, you can call me a liar and say, I'm wrong about that. Come with me this afternoon. Let's go to Guadalupe. Let's knock some doors and we'll count all the Mary pictures we see and all the Jesus pictures we see. And I'm against both of them. I'm against pictures of Jesus in the first place. It's all idolatry. But let me tell you something. You'll see ten times as much Mary. And when you see Mary and Jesus together, it's Jesus under her feet. It's Mary standing on Jesus. It's Mary, huge and exalted. And she looks angelic. He looks like a toddler. Or some of them will show up. I've noticed this too. You might have seen this. An angry Jesus. A really mad... And then Mary's all peaceful. Calm down, son. And that's literally what they believe. You'll see like a mean... type of a Jesus. Yes, okay, God's wrath is there, but you know what? Mary's got some wrath too. No, I'm just kidding. No, that's a weird doctrine. I'm not trying to say that. No, Mary's just a human being. And in Luke chapter 2, they've even made a worship and a chant called the Hail Mary that they chant over and over as they worship this goddess. I mean, they literally have a female god. I mean, that's who they worship. The mother god. And today we have even in school the mother earth and this female worship. And by the way, God is a man. Just hate to break that to you, but that's a whole other sermon in and of itself. I can show you hundreds of scriptures. They call him he, him, his, a man. God's a man of war, on and on. But they take this part in Luke 1. You're in Luke 11. I'm going to get there in a second. But in Luke 1, if you want to turn there, verse 28 says, And the angel came in under her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And then in verse... So that's where they get their Hail Mary, that blessed art thou among women. It says in verse 41, And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women. So we see that phrase twice. Blessed art thou among women. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb. When Mary prays a few verses later, she says in Luke 1.47, My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. So look, Mary needed a Savior. She wasn't perfect. She said in verse 45 that she believed, and in verse 47 she said that Jesus was her Savior. And so Jesus Christ was above Mary. He's her Savior. He's the Creator. She was a sinner. Yes, she was a virgin when she gave birth to her firstborn son, Jesus. She had at least seven other children, for a fact that we know for a fact she had at least seven other children biblically. And she was also a sinner, because even before she gave birth to Jesus, she said she needed a Savior. And He saves us from our sins, Matthew 1. And so if you don't have any sins, you don't need a Savior, because she had a Savior. But people will worship and exalt Mary, and say, see it says, Blessed art thou among women. She has a special place. But look at Luke 11.27. And you say, what does this have to do with Barak? I'm going to tie it in at the very end. You'll see. Luke 11.27. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, here's the first Catholic in the Bible. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. So this woman's getting real creative here, you know, praising Mary. And watch Jesus correct this woman who's praising Mary. Blessing the womb that bare thee and the paps. He said this, he said, notice the word, but. So he's correcting her. He said, but, he said, yea rather, he said, here's what you ought to be saying, here's what you should rather be saying, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. So who's more blessed? The womb that bare Jesus, or those who hear the word of God and keep it? Isn't that clear? We shouldn't worship Mary. That's false doctrine here. And you say, what does this have to do with Barak and Deborah? Because remember how they keep saying, you know, blessed art thou among women, blessed art thou among women. Oh yeah? Well, jail was blessed art thou above women. Okay? So we see right there in Judges 5, that God gave a higher blessing on jail, who put the nail through the chainmail, no, I'm just trying to think of the poem, just kidding. You know, put the nail through the head of Sisera. He said, blessed art thou above women. Okay? So look, yes, Mary was blessed. Yes, jail was blessed. And you could be blessed too, ladies, if you'll just hear God's word. Look at the promise right there. Yea, rather, this is from Jesus, Luke 11, 28. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. So you can be a blessed woman this morning too. You can be a godly woman today. You can be up there with Mary. You can be up there with jail, if you'll hear God's word preached and you'll do it, and you'll keep it. If you'll go out and win souls, if you'll raise your children to serve God, if you'll keep yourself clean and pure and godly and dress modestly and do all the things that God tells you to do in His word, hey, you could be blessed among women. And you could even be blessed above women, like jail, the one who killed Sisera. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word, dear God. And I thank you that the Bible has something for everyone. It has something for the men. It has something for the women. It has a job for men to do, and it has a job for ladies to do. And God, just help us all to willingly offer ourselves. Help us to be like those children of Naphtali and Zebulun. Help us to offer ourselves a living sacrifice. Help us to say, Lord, hear my sin me. And God, we know that you'll give us the victory because the battle is yours, dear God. And thank you for your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.